MR. TINY and his blushing bride, Miss Vicki, enjoy a glass of milk and honey after their top rated television wedding. Phyllis Diller (seated alongside Miss Vicki) was one of the guests.

TINY TIM, the tip-toeing troubador, sent shockwaves through the American television industry with his Alice-In-Wonderland wedding.

    First, he amazed even the experts with the fantastic audience, who stayed up till after midnight to see the nation's first televised nuptials between commercials for a safety razor and a stomach pill.
    Between 35 and 40 million people watched to give Tiny and his child-bride Miss Vicki, the biggest rating for a variety show in television history.
    Second, he provoked a storm of criticism from reviewers and viewers alike, who called the wedding a publicity stunt and a tasteless exercise in rating-chasing.
    Some criticism even came from opposing channels in New York, who were no doubt envious at seeing their viewers switch over to their rival.
    But the chiefs at NBC, who like Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, can spot a rating 10 miles off without the help of binoculars, were starry-eyed over the whole thing.
    They increased the normal cost of a minute's advertising on the Tonight Show from $16,000 to nearly $20,000, and crammed in more than a dozen spots.
    Perhaps the ratings were not so surprising. The wedding was the most touted television event of the year, getting a tremendous publicity build-up on the show and by the antics of Tiny himself.
    Tiny first mentioned his love shortly after returning from Australia, and later announced his engagement on the show. He brought Miss Vicki on to show her to the world, and a week before the marriage made a farewell-to-bachelorhood appearance, only to be admonished by Dr. Joyce Brothers for his way-out ideas on sex and separate bedrooms.
    Against a normal share of 30 to 35 per cent for the Carson Show, the Neilsen rating reported an 85 per cent share.
    That is, of all the people watching at the time, a mere 15 per cent were watching the other channels available, and in New York there are nine others.
    Most of the viewers saw the wedding as a joke or a bizarre form of entertainment which could come only in America.
    As one TV studio technician put it: "The divorce will be next week on the Merv Griffin Show."
    One aspect was disturbing. Tiny, for all his weird ways, is a smart showman, and he knows it.
    It was hard to erase the gnawing, pervasive undercurrent that a consumate professional showman was getting the greatest publicity in the world.

Source: Unidentified
Reproduced according to "Fair Use"